Oral healthcare professionals, such as oral surgeons, dentists, periodontists, orthodontists, and endodontists, perform various types of oral surgeries and dental procedures, collectively referred to as “oral procedures,” on patients each year. Depending on the nature of the oral procedure being performed, patients may be placed in various levels of consciousness using various types of anesthesia. For some procedures, patients may be fully conscience, while for other procedures, patients may be fully sedated. Patients may be given local anesthesia or general anesthesia. A patient may react in various ways to instruments placed in the patient's mouth, may experience different levels of discomfort, and may have different abilities to guard against swallowing or inhaling fluids and particles created during oral procedures, depending on the type of anesthesia, duration of administration of anesthesia, and the concentration of the anesthesia administered.
Tongue retraction, fluid build-up, and debris scatter are common occurrences during oral procedures. A patient's tongue is often retracted during an oral procedure to give the oral health care professional ample room to work, and to protect the patient's tongue from injury. Oral procedures often promote accumulation of various fluids in a patient's mouth, including saliva, blood, and fluids used to irrigate dental instruments. Suction is often used to assist with fluid removal in a patient's mouth, but additional means for fluid removal are often needed. Oral procedures often create large amounts of particles, or debris, in and around a patient's mouth. Broken teeth, tartar, crowns, bridges, metals, ceramics, and other materials may accumulate in and around a patient's mouth and make the patient vulnerable to swallowing or inhaling the loose debris. Additional debris may also be introduced into a patient's mouth by a health care professional during an oral procedure.
Wads of gauze are often used by oral health care professionals to retract a patient's tongue during an oral procedure, to absorb excess fluids, and to provide a barrier to prevent the patient from swallowing or inhaling debris. However, use of gauze has disadvantages. Gauze is generally not sufficiently rigid and is often dislodged. Gauze is also often insufficiently absorbent. As a result, gauze often needs to be changed numerous times during oral procedures. Gauze is typically an ineffective particle barrier. Wads of gauze can be bulky and provide an irregular surface around which a health care professional may need to maneuver during an oral procedure. During oral procedures involving a drill, an oral health-care professional is likely to nick the gauze with the drill bur. When a spinning drill bur contacts gauze, the gauze often becomes entangled in the drill bur, and the gauze begins to spin with the bur. Any debris and fluid that are held in the gauze tend to scatter. The oral health professional needs to turn off the drill, untangle the gauze from the bur, clean off the patient, and make sure the patient is not choking on fluid and/or debris that may have entered the patient's throat. During normal use, gauze may also contact the back of a patient's tongue, causing a gag reflex.
Rubber dams are also commonly used to shield the patient from swallowing or inhaling particles during oral procedures. Rubber dams are thin sheets of rubber, held in place with a clamp and frame, which stretch around a procedural site. Although rubber dams can be an effective way to protect patients from swallowing and inhaling scattered debris during oral procedures, some patients express a high degree of discomfort and agitation when a rubber dam is inserted into their mouths. Some patients feel like they are suffocating and begin to panic.
Dentists, oral surgeons, and other oral health care professionals have, therefore, recognized a need for a tongue retractor and fluid/particle barrier that can retract a patient's tongue and form an effective fluid/particle barrier to protect the patient from swallowing or inhaling fluid and particles created during an oral procedure.